Women's Water Polo Goes 3-1 at Marist Invitational

Mar 09, 2009

March 9, 2009

Poughkeepsie, NY -
Led by junior Lauren Presant's (Poway, CA) 17 goals, 11 steals and 14 ejections drawn, the Brown women's water polo team (8-4) went 3-1 at the Marist Invitational with victories over St. Francis, Marist, and Iona before falling to Wagner in the final game of the weekend.

"Overall I felt our defensive made some big strides this weekend," said Head Coach Felix Mercado. "But finishing 3-1 and to be missing an important member of our team in captain Rory Stanton, I would say it was successful."

The Bears breezed by St. Francis in the first game of the weekend, as Presant tallied seven goals to help Brown to a 14-4 victory. The Bears came out strong to score seven goals in the first half and seven more in the second to extend its lead to 14-4 and win the game. Junior Sarah Glick (Bonita, CA) posted four goals, as sophomore Rita Bullwinkel (Portola Valley, CA), freshman Samantha Ryu (Santa Barbara, CA) and sophomore Katherine Stanton (Danville, CA) each tallied one.

In the night cap, the Bears were able to told off another Marist comeback to pull out a 9-8 win. Leading the way was once again Presant with five goals and Glick with three. Stanton anchored the defense with a combined 11 steals, as junior goalkeeper Stephanie Laing (Ann Arbor, MI) totaled 13 saves in Brown's first two contests.

On Sunday, Brown earned a 13-7 victory against Iona, but then dropped its final contest to Wagner. Against Iona, Brown's Glick notched four goals and handed out five assists as Bullwinkel added three to lead Brown to victory. Against Wagner, Brown tried to fight off an inspired Seahawks team that was determined to avenge a loss from last week's ECAC semi-finals.

The Bears took a 2-0 lead after the first eight minutes of play, but the feisty Wagner team scored the next three goals . Brown tied it at three before another 3-0 run for the Seahawks to gain a 6-3 advantage, but Presant and Glick were able to score consecutive goals to tie it at six only to see Wagner score the last two goals of the game to win the game, 8-6.

Laing was in goal both games on Sunday, as she tallied 14 saves. Presant scored three goals against the Seahawks, followed by Glick with two and freshman Bethany Kwoka (San Mateo, CA) with one.

The Bears are back in action at Utica when it takes on Colorado College at 10:00 a.n. on Saturday, March 14, followed by matches against NYAC and Hartwick hosted at Hartwick.